A BUSINESS leader says he wants to “rock the boat” as he enters his final year as chairman of the Oxfordshire Institute of Directors (IoD).

Entrepreneur Timon (corr) Colegrove has a reputation for being unconventional and he believes he must challenge and disrupt to keep the organisation moving forward.

The straight-talking entrepreneur has revealed his plans in a candid interview with the Oxford Mail as he goes into his third year in charge of the professional body.

Mr Colegrove said: “I’m hoping for my final year to start rocking the boat a bit more.”

He said of the 112-year-old London-based institute: “There are some lovely people at Pall Mall and very highly skilled business leaders, but there are also politicians and that bugs me a bit.”

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He continued: “The trouble is, if you don’t disrupt, you don’t challenge, and things just keep going on.

“Locally in the IoD it needs challenging.”

The father-of-four is chief executive and majority shareholder of Kidlington-based printing, marketing, design and technology company Hunts.

Next Thursday (April 16) marks his second anniversary as head of the county branch of the national business organisation.

Last January, Mr Colegrove told the Oxford Mail: “The IoD has a little bit of a superiority complex that is completely incompatible with today’s business world.”

Now, he finds himself in good company with the IoD’s new chairwoman, Lady Barbara Judge, who recently told the Financial Times she intends to rattle cages at the organisation and to “champion women”.

She said: “I believe sometimes you have to kick the ball in order for it to go in the right direction.”

Mr Colegrove, who hopes to meet Lady Judge soon, says one of his key concerns is that the hierarchical nature of many businesses is at odds with younger workers.

He said: “Hierarchy in business is very 20th century.

“Business and the IoD have to attract young people and young people are all about keeping it real.”

The 54-year-old says three-quarters of the workforce is expected to be from the Millennial Generation – born from the 1980s onwards – by 2025 He believes businesses need to adopt flat management structures that allow staff to become engaged with their work and, in the process, tap into creativity and ideas among all workers.

Mr Colegrove also said digital technology is “embedded” in the younger generation and businesses should look at ways of harnessing this.

Kidlingon-born Mr Colegrove has been in charge of Hunts for 33 years and has seen it evolve into a modern multi-media award-winning business with world leading companies among its clients.

The Oxfordshire branch of the IoD has 750 members and has a mission to inspire, develop and influence local business leaders and directors.